Posts Tagged ‘trick pony
Blueberry Splash
"Blueberry Splash"
Minnow’s newest painting is now available for purchase! He created this 9″x12″ painting on July 13th while a group of campers came to visit.
Don’t forget that all of Minnow’s paintings are available at my retail location in Downingtown, PA. Or you can purchase paintings from the website and have them shipped to you.
All of the paintings are original works of art created soley by the Trick Ponies of Chincoteague. No two are ever the same!
Minnow is currently the World’s only Painting Chincoteague Pony, so don’t miss this oppertunity to own a one-of-a-kind work of art by this talented horse!
Picnic with my Pony
Minnow paints a t-shirt for a camper
On Monday I again had a group of campers from Fox Meadow Farm come out to Iron Horse Farm to visit the Trick Ponies and watch Minnow perform and paint. This has been a great way to get Minnow geared up for Pony Penning 2009 as it gives us a way to practice in front of an audience. Minnow can sometimes have a mind of his own (don’t all ponies) so I’m having to train myself to work through his little “miss steps”. I can never be quite sure what he will do (or I guess not do) with any given situation so I have to be quick on my toes to ad-lib sometimes. Sometimes I find this difficult because I’m a very quiet and reserved person and I definitely don’t have acting in my blood! I’d much rather prefer to be on the sidelines and watch Minnow perform all the tricks I have taught him, but the fact is that I’m his trainer and just as much a part of his performing as he is. I think this is why I love painting with Minnow so much, its sort of a quiet time we can share even if its performed infront of a crowd. I don’t have to talk and Minnow becomes the focus as I sort of blend into the background as his “helper”.
Anyway, below is a video of “part” of our beach picnic skit – if you want to see all of it you will just have to attend Pony Penning 2009 and visit Minnow at the Chincoteague Pony Centre!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
P.S. I’m in the works of developing some very special contests on the Trick Ponies of Chincoteague Blog. So keep reading daily to learn how you can win some fabulous prizes!!
Minnow gets ready for the Beach
After my week-long beach vacation I picked up a few things for Minnow. One of my purchases was a beach bucket and shovel. I really wasn’t sure what I would teach Minnow with this “prop” but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try something. So I started off with the obvious – teaching Minnow to carry around the bucket. Then I decided this was just too boring. So I then proceeded to teach him to pick up the shovel – which evolved into asking him to “scoop” sand. Below you can see the video of our near-final result. Took him about 5 minutes to master this skill. He’s amazingly fast at learning new skills – he continues to impress me with each new task.
Minnow even performed this latest trick during our newest skit for a group of campers yesterday (and a newspaper photographer!). But you will just have to wait until to tomorrow to watch that video! And within the next few days I hope to be posting up a new newspaper article written about the famous Minnow of Chincoteague! So be sure to check back everyday – or else you might miss something exciting!
Accepting Boarders
Iron Horse Farm
Iron Horse Farm, where the Trick Ponies of Chincoteague live and site of my family’s new horse farm, is now accepting full boarders!
Our Facility
8 12’x12’ matted stalls with dutch doors
1 12’ x 16’ matted foaling stall
4 pastures with 2 bay sheds
1 small paddock with screenings
Hot/Cold Water Wash Stall
Tackroom with boarder lockers (lockers to be constructed soon)
Bathroom
150’ x 290’ riding ring with screenings and lights (footing and lights to be added soon)
Access to stadium jumps
Access to miles of trails including the Laurels
For more information please visit our website!
Hippo….what?
As promised I have plenty of new and exciting things going on with the trick ponies! I stayed at Iron Horse Farm until 10pm last night working with the horses. I missed them so much after my week-long beach vacation. After spending the week reading my new book “The Click that Teaches: Riding with the Clicker” by Alexandra Kurland I had lots of ideas spinning in my head that I wanted to try with my own horses. So when I arrived at the barn around 6pm last night, the first thing I did was drag out an old bareback pad that I had. I attached stirrups to it as well as some extra thick pads underneath for added cusioning. I “saddled” up Minnow and threw a bitless bridle on him. I think Minnow was a bit concerned because he hasn’t had any type of girth on in well over a year – due to his diagnosis of ringbone (equine arthritis) in March of 2008. (don’t worry all we did was walk)
My plan was to attempt the hippodrome stand. Now if you are hearing this word for the first time you are probably thinking – what the heck? Basically the hippodrome is a trick riding term which pertains to standing on the top of your horse while he usually gallops around the arena. Many trick riders use this in their performances and some even perform the hippodrome roman style – meaning having 2 horses in tandem that they stand on. I’ve never had any trick riding training, and honestly I’ve only ever seen it performed in demos/exhibitions. I secretly wish I could attend a trick riding school because it looks so cool.
So that being said – here is an example of a young girl doing the hippodrome stand on her pony Puddles.
I have noticed that most trick riders perform the hippodrome with a special trick riding saddle that in addition to having lots of extra straps and handles to hold onto, it has 2 foot loops near the front to put your feet into in order to perform the hippodrome. But since I don’t own a trick saddle I figured I’d try to do it bareback (hence the bareback pad). I have seen bareback roman riding – but I haven’t been able to locate any hippodrome stands with a single horse and bareback. Maybe its not possible? Its definitely hard! Lucky for me Minnow is so fat and wide that I had a little extra room to spread my legs for balance. But before I say much more….watch my attempt below:
As you can see when Minnow starts and stops suddenly it is very hard to keep my balance (hence why I fell off at the end). I was trying to experiment with different ways to position my feet for balance. I think I’m going to have to do a bit more research – especially to find out if anyone performs the hippodrome without straps to straddle the horse. This idea would be very similar to the way a jockey rides. Their stirrups are so short that when a jockey straightens his legs he’s almost standing.
So anyway I hope you enjoyed my failed attempt at the hippodrome stand. If there is any trick riders out there I welcome as much help as I can get! Check back on tuesday – because I not only worked on the hippodrome stand with Minnow, but I also taught him a brand new trick. But for suspense you will have to wait till after the weekend to hear about it!
-KD
www.ponypaintings.com
